The US trade association Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) has used the release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July as an opportunity to highlight the ongoing financial strain on American families during the back-to-school season. Inflation and higher tariffs are driving up costs across the entire footwear supply chain.
Consumer prices rose again in July – marking the 64th consecutive month that inflation has exceeded the US Federal Reserve’s two per cent target. Shoe prices rose for the eighth consecutive month year-on-year. For women’s shoes, the increase was one of the sharpest seen in nearly four years. The latest data reinforces concerns that price pressures in the supply chain are continuing to build, even as individual input costs gradually stabilise.
“Families are already struggling with higher costs for housing, food and other essentials, and now they’re feeling this pressure when buying shoes for the start of the school year,” says Matt Priest, CEO of the FDRA. “The July figures show that shoe prices are continuing to rise, with some categories seeing their sharpest price increases in years. Shoe companies have been working hard to absorb the rising costs, but tariffs are making this increasingly difficult.”
Whilst tariffs on consumer goods average just over 2 per cent, they exceed 12 per cent for shoes. For some children’s shoes, they can reach almost 50 per cent – even before additional tariffs come into effect. In total, US footwear companies pay more than five billion US dollars in tariffs to the federal government each year.
